Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Update, 10:50 Tuesday, Nov. 27: The Occupation has ended, following a negotiation with UCB Administrators. Everyone was allowed to leave the building, without having IDs checked. The Administration conceded to the demand for amnesty; they agreed to let the Bridges community vote on whether their rooms would be on the 2nd floor, 4th floor, or in the basement of the future student center (whereas previously the administration had decided unilaterally to move the Bridges community's rooms to the basement); and they agreed to have a task force (rather than review board) on the Multicultural Student Development Offices and Recruitment and Retention Center, which will include six members chosen by the Bridges community who will present demands directly to the chancellor.

This afternoon, a group of students barricaded themselves on the sixth floor of Eshleman Hall at UC Berkeley, reclaiming a building that has been designated for demolition and demanding that the Administration abandon plans to cut support for the recruitment and retention of students of color. At this point, a couple hundred supporters have gathered in lower Sproul Plaza, while the police have closed off the building. Those barricading the building are calling on supporters to gather at Eshleman in order to protect those inside and intensify the force of their resistance.

The demands:

We Demand that the Multicultural Student Development Offices be restored to their former structure by Vice Chancellor Gibor Basri. Countless students and the ASUC as an entity have voiced this opinion and received no changes.

We demand that the budget allocation of the multicultural student development offices be increased to meet the needs of their work.

We demand that none of the peaceful protesters in this occupation receive any punishment or repercussions for this activity.

We demand an increase in funding for the Recruitment and Retention Center to assist in their mission of increasing the enrollment of underrepresented minorities on campus.

Yeah, they are "so brave", you asshole. Students who have protested against austerity measures, over the past few years, have gotten kicked out of school; they've gotten their fingers smashed; and they've gotten stay away orders from campuses where they work, teach and study. For students of color -- who jump over so many hurdles to get to a UC -- for them to demand that they not be persecuted for trying defending themselves is just *obvious*. People who stands up for their collective interests, against unbelievable odds, should be honored, not belittled by do-nothing internet trolls.

do not be vicious with your words unless your goal is to further mmanifest name-calling. ..i've stood up against austerity for an extended period of time and multiple times and have been threatened, hurt, and otherwise emotionally damaged. to put a get out of jail free card in the 'demands' is worse than the martyrdom syndrome that protestors in recent times are subjected to. the powers that be are in place, and to not allow those powers to flex their strength does nothing in proving that these powers are indeed corrupt. civil disobedience has nothing to do with the bodies who have committed to such an act -- consequences must be absorbed by those involved. this is not a fucking color issue, you mother-fucking racist -- i am so goddamn sick and tired of that racist rhetoric which propagates and keeps the notion of race reality alive. this is an issue of classism. use your fucking real name if you want to call out a troll, you asshole

@shlomo yeah but that's a little cheeky to ask not to be punish. Real talk? Y'all realize state funding of UC Berkley is down by damn near 50% of what it was in '03-'04 right? At the same time expenses associated with retirement bennys rose by 15-20% over the same period.

So their check got smaller and the bills went up.

EXPLAIN TO ME where this money to increase budget allocation is supposed to come from. I'd really like to hear this one. But if it was me i'd hit up a few notable alumni and keep it moving.

So these are the only choices? Either employee benefits providing a decent retirement or student outreach and education? We can't have both? Some very wealthy interests would like you to believe that. After all, they don't feel they should have to pay their share (though they have benefited from a society that used to support both education for all and dignity in retirement).

Go look at the financial statements. UC is a public institution and all their financials are public. I DO AGREE that the top brass is getting paid way too much money and that needs to end. Fact is, UC needs a GROWTH STRATEGY.

In case you didn't notice, the university is being run by a bunch of cronies. In a time of out and out crisis -- today in fact-- the Regents found the money to pay the new UC Berkeley Chancellor $486,000, a raise of $50,000 over the previous Chancellor. There are more and more administrators at the UC, even as the number of full-time faculty stagnates. Even conservative magazines like Business Week are pointing out how scandalous the situation is. So don't give me crap about the university being between a rock and a hard place. It's true: there's declining state funds, and multiplying bills, but that just means: the system isn't working, and it's time for *real change*. The Regents response: let them eat cake! It's totally preposterous. We need reach change, not soldiering on with a system that fails everyone but the ultra-rich. Your suggestion that we beg for handouts from the same cronies just shows how totally out of touch you are!

"It's true: there's declining state funds, and multiplying bills, but that just means: the system isn't working, and it's time for *real change*. [...] Your suggestion that we beg for handouts from the same cronies just shows how totally out of touch you are!"

But when people ask the admin. to cancel cuts and tuition hikes, isn't that some form of begging for handouts?

Even assuming the multicultural student development office recover their staff and funding, does that constitute any kind of *real change*? Or are we just maintaining the same system for a bit longer?

My policy, and it should be yours too, is to support anyone -- even those who merely take a defensive stance -- as long as they are doing so actively. Overcoming a world of passivity and cynicism (clearly represented by your comments and those of others on this thread) is the most important factor in creating real change. Isn't that the lesson of history, over and over and over again? Of course, I don't believe that winning back the resource centers will, in itself, produce real change, but as we form connections with each other and gain strength, we might be able to do something worthwhile. *Always* have solidarity with those who take risks by taking action. Never give in to cynicism. We should be heartened by this action, even if we are critical of it. We should support it, actively, and try to EXTEND it, so that it can become meaningful. What else can we do? Sit around and try to convince everyone to "keep calm and carry on" or let the admin handle it? You have to be kidding me.

I buy that UC pays its senior executives too much, but it's one thing to say that and another to say that we can recover all of UCs lost funding simply by decreasing executive salaries. Yours is an effective moral point but isn'tvery pragmatic. Finding a few million dolars of raises for executives isn't evidence that the univeristy is hiding hundreds of millions of dollars at it could be using for financial aid and worker wages beneifts and retirement.

With a loss of over 50% of the funding, I believe that they should do some fundraising or reach out for philanthropists that will give with no strings attached. I'm sure if the funding went back to what it was before California had this budget crisis which may I remind you was caused by THE BANKS and not the university. Then I'm sure the school would give them more money.

However, and I'm sure I'm going to get tons of hateful messages back for this rather than useful conversation because I've seen the pattern above. But I don't believe that race should be ANY part of who gets into college. Honestly, I believe all applicants should be assigned a random number that the admission board can't lookup their name, race, or even sex. I mean obviously some or even all of that would or could be given away in the essays. But, I don't believe any of that should be taken into account for admission. I believe admission should be based on merit. Just because they have a lower Hispanic, Asian, or African American doesn't mean that they should be able to score lower on exams to get in. Yes it's true that schools especially in minority heavy areas (minority is a bit of a stretch too because whites are actually technically a minority number wise) are not as good as in wealthy white/asian areas. But, they can graduate high school and study for SAT's like anyone else. Or go to ANY community college they want and start as low as they need, get good grades, and then get accepted as a transfer student because of their GPA.

We're not going to get anywhere if we keep viewing everything by race. Funding for all schools should be equal. I believe that if every school was given funding equally by the number of students they have rather than by what district they live in meaning that wealthier districts have better schools. That will make it equal as far as k-12 goes. Maybe their home life is not as good... But guess what?? I'm caucasian and I grew up in a nasty area as well. Yet, I've managed to do just fine with my life even though a majority of other caucasian people in my area didn't. Did I make mistakes? yes... But if you want something bad enough you can get it. I had to start college at pre-algebra. I would never have gotten into berkeley needing to know that and I shouldn't have been accepted over someone who had better scores than me if I had happened to be another color besides white.

Do we have a problem with race in this country? Yes. And it needs to stop somewhere and sometime. So until we stop trying to make it fair between races and instead forget race and treat EVERYONE as if they were EQUAL. Then we're just going to have shit like this forever.